Hi. I'm alison, and I am now trendy.
At A Glance Author alison Contact beautifulal@netzero.com IAM little bi al When A week ago Artist Brendon Studio The Haven (Lone Wolf Bodyart) Location Nashville, TN I never really wanted a navel piercing. Too trendy, every popular chick has one. Then one day, for some reason unbeknownst to me, I decided that I wanted to be silly and girly. By god, I wanted my belly button pierced!
It didn't take long for me to decide that, although I'd be getting my navel pierced, I wasn't going to be "like everybody else". I liked admiring all of the pretty, shiny, and glittery 14 gauge curves in the jewelry display case. But there was something wrong: they were all so tiny! Did I mention I'm a bit of a gauge queen?
I decided to go with an 8 gauge curved barbell. I went up to the Haven to talk with the piercer, Brendon, about it and to have him order the jewelry. He told me that I was nuts, then called the Haven in Lebanon (there are three shops) to have them add it to their order. I hung around and we chatted for a while. I normally get really uncomfortable around people, but he made me feel so comfortable and welcome. I left feeling very confident about the piercing and said I'd give a call in about a week to see if the jewelry was in.
So a week went by and I called. No jewelry. Waited a few more days, and still no jewelry. The next week – still no jewelry. I started getting sad. Brendon told me that they had had to order my piece from Industrial Strength instead of Tombstone (their usual supplier) because Tombstone didn't have the right size for me. He said it'd be in later that week. So I called again a few days later. Turns out UPS had come to the shop at 11:45 am. No one was there because they don't open till noon. It was a Wednesday, and they'd be back the next day. I told Brendon that it was no problem because I couldn't get up to Nashville (I live about 20 miles away) till Saturday anyway.
So that Saturday finally rolled around. I picked up my friend Tess to give me moral support and we headed up to the Haven. We were going to be meeting Ginger and Matt there at noon. I had a whole cheering section!
Brendon pulled out the jewelry and let me look at it. It was really, really nice. I alternated between saying "It's so big!" and "It's not that big!" I just couldn't make up my mind which it was. Matt suggested that we pierce with a six-gauge needle and put in the 8ga jewelry – so it would bleed a lot more. Brendon laughed and explained that he was going to pierce at 10ga and immediately stretch to 8ga, so that it would not bleed. He took the barbell to the back, put it in the autoclave, and proceeded to pierce the other customers there.
Waiting was the worst. I looked around, giggled nervously, daydreamed, wrung my hands, and thought about what I was about to do. Finally, it was my turn and the jewelry was ready. I was pumped. I was psyched. I was ready! I asked my "cheering section" to come back with me.
I laid down on the dentist chair while Brendon got everything set up. I watched a little, I looked at the ceiling, I looked at my friends. Matt and Ginger are quite familiar with the piercing "stuff", but Tess is minimally modded. She looked almost as nervous as I did. I was pretty nervous about how my body would react to being pierced – my last piercing was over two years prior and had gone horribly. I had passed out then and did not want a repeat performance.
Brendon had me stand so that he could mark me. It took some time and a few tries, and he explained that, at this size, there wasn't much room for error. I didn't care about the time; I wanted him to take all the time he needed to insure a properly placed piercing. Once he thought it was good placement, I turned my belly to my friends so that they could check it out. It was unanimous – the marks were good.
Brendon proceeded to put the clamps on me. Once in place, I said "Ouch." Ginger remarked that the clamps were probably the worst part. "Yeah, right," I said. I had a hunch that the actual piercing/stretching might hurt a little bit more. Brendon held on to the clamps as I gently laid back down. I stared straight up at the ceiling and held my breath. Brendon instructed me to breathe, and I did my best to keep my breathing slow and steady.
It felt like the needle would never get through. It hurt. A lot. I winced and curled my fingers and toes. I tried to keep breathing. I was determined to not pass out for this one. Then came the taper. It hurt a lot more. I'm sure I made a terrible face and arched my back slightly. Brendon didn't take long to follow it with the barbell and screw on the ball. It was done.
I moaned and decided to stay lying down for a few minutes. My navel hurt, but I felt good. Really, really good. One of my friends asked what the worst part of it was – and I couldn't remember the pain at all. "Not the clamps!" was all I could remember. I was so loopy. We talked while I was lying down and decided that the tapering was the worst.
Then I decided to stand up. Brendon had left the room for a minute. Tess was by my side and told me not to rush it. I can't go from lying down to standing very fast normally, so I knew enough to take it slow. When I got to my feet, I looked around. Was I standing? Was I about to faint? Brendon came back to check on me and was surprised that I was standing. I proudly showed him my navel. He was proud of it too, and took a few pictures of it.
We all went back out to the waiting area, where I proceeded to show anyone and everyone my navel. I was beaming. We went over aftercare and I paid and tipped Brendon. I decided that 8ga wasn't that big after all, and I told him I'd be back in a year to stretch it.
Matt and Ginger live right next to the Haven, so we walked to their apartment. I sat down and began to not feel so good, so I ate a chocolate-covered-marshmallow-egg-thing. I stayed sitting for a while and my lightheadedness passed. That first day wasn't bad at all. My navel was sore, of course, but I was wearing clothing that would not bother it.
The morning after, I awoke to a pain under my arm. My armpit lymph nodes were swollen and tender. Once my initial thoughts of lymph node biopsies and armpit cancer passed, I realized that it had something to do with the previous day's piercing. My body was just trying to figure out what had happened and why it was hurting. This was reinforced by fellow IAM members who have had similar experiences following piercings. The pain and swelling in my armpit gradually diminished over the next few days.
I'm still in my first week, and I am following basic aftercare of preservative-free saline solution, sea salt soaks, and not playing with it. I whacked it when I went to brush cat hair off of my shirt – rest assured I will not do that again. Otherwise, I really have had no problems. Crusties have been nearly non-existent. I still think it's silly and girly, and often giggle when I look at it or talk about it.
When I left the shop, I was partially kidding about stretching it. Now I am looking forward to it being fully healed (of course), so I can stretch it. No definite plans yet, but I do have my eye on a certain glass navel curve...